Palin Inspires Changes to Paul Revere Wikipedia Page

Sarah Palin will not relent in defending her revisionist history of Paul Revere's ride from Boston to Lexington, in which Revere "warned the British." And her supporters similarly will not relent in revising the history of the event on Wikipedia in order to reflect Palin's version. Wikipedia editors are fed up with the flood of poorly sourced changes to the Paul Revere page -- many point to Palin herself as a history expert -- and have called for a lock on the page and an end to the discussion.

Charles Johnson reported the volley of Palin-inspired changes to Paul Revere page and Dave Weigel offers a quick snapshot of the controversy. Here's a quick summary. Last week, Palin claimed that Revere warned the British not to take Americans' arms by "riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells." In questioning Palin's understanding of the Revere's midnight ride -- an event historians have undeniably studied in depth, leading to ample academic debate over the specifics -- critics point out that Revere definitely warned the colonists and probably did not do so by firing guns. This likely would've spoiled the clandestine nature of the mission. Here, one editor points out how a Palin supporter's attempt at bending the narrative towards her version:

In the article on Paul Revere, someone has added false information in an effort to support Sarah Palin's FALSE claims about Paul Revere.

"Accounts differ regarding the method of alerting the colonists; the generally accepted position is that the warnings were verbal in nature, although one disputed account suggested that Revere rang bells during his ride.[8][9]"